The Tatra Ice Dome is dedicated this year to the memory of Pope John Paul II, who visited the Tatras 30 years ago. (source: TASR/Veronika Mihalová)
The Tatra Ice Dome at Hrebienok in the High Tatras has taken on the form of two iconic buildings this year: the Wawel Cathedral and the Church of St. Vitus in Kraków, Poland. The ice structure is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s second visit to Slovakia, during which he also visited the High Tatras.
The ice dome will be open to the public from Friday, November 15, marking the official start of the winter season in the Tatras, reports the SITA news agency.
The Tatra Ice Dome has been constructed at an altitude of 1,285 metres. The building, made up of 1,800 ice blocks weighing a total of 225 tonnes, sits within a dome with a 25-metre diameter. The temperature inside is maintained at a constant minus three to minus 10 degrees Celsius. Forty people worked on the project, including 20 sculptors and carvers from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany, led by Slovak artist Adam Bakoš.
Pope John Paul II led the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005, and he visited Slovakia three times during his papacy. During his 1995 visit, he rested in a gazebo near the Silesian House, took a helicopter ride over the Tatras, and personally blessed a wooden cross as well as the symbols of mountain rescue workers – a rope and an ice axe.
In addition to the Wawel Cathedral, where John Paul II was ordained as a bishop in 1958, and the Church of St. Vitus, where he prayed during his time in Kraków, the ice dome also features the pope’s portrait carved into the ice.
The pope was a great lover of the Tatras and visited the area frequently, even before his papacy.
The Tatra Ice Dome will remain open to the public until April 21, 2025. During the winter season, there will also be 11 concerts for visitors to enjoy.
Last year, the ice structure mirrored Westminster Abbey in London as a tribute to the visit of late Queen Elizabeth II to Hrebienok in 2008.
